Instagram rolls out new tools to verify accounts, curb spam

Facebook and its daughter company Instagram have often been questioned about their advertising model. Instagram has now come up with a new feature that is expected to introduce transparency in its ecosystem.

Facebook and its daughter company Instagram have often been questioned about their advertising model. Instagram has now come up with a new feature that is expected to introduce transparency in its ecosystem. The company has rolled out a feature to weed out fake accounts and reduce the instances of spamming on its platform.

The new feature is called "About This Account" and as the name suggests, Users will be able to see the advertisements that a particular account is running and also general information like where the account is located, username changes in the past year as well as other details.

Instagram co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Mike Krieger said in a blog post, "Keeping people with bad intentions off our platform is incredibly important ... that means trying to make sure the people you follow and the accounts you interact with are who they say they are, and stopping bad actors before they cause harm."

The new feature will soon be rolled out to accounts with a large number of followers. To access the feature, the user will have to go to that specific account and tap on the three dots on the top right and then, you'll see the option "About This Account" (when you receive the update). Once you click on the new option, you'll be able to see the date when the account was created, the country where the account is based, the ads that the account is running, the chain of username changes and other accounts that share the followers.

Over and above this new feature, Instagram is also introducing a two-factor authentication process for users to add another layer of security during log-in. Earlier, Instagram did offer two-factor authentication via text message. However, this was found to be insufficient for users with high-value accounts. Now the platform will integrate third-party authenticators like Google Authenticator and DUI Mobile.

The photo-sharing platform will also verify accounts using blue ticks. Earlier, the mechanism to get an Instagram account was unclear. The account holder could not initiate the process. Now, the user can not only initiate a request to get verified but also provide a legitimate government ID to finalise the process.